This is one of the most mythical fantastic series on television: 42 years later, will a new adaptation see the light of day?

What series can boast of having such an important and lasting influence as the fourth dimension? Not happy to have been the mother of all anthological shows (where each episode or season develops a different story), without being equaled despite the many copies that have emerged, the creation of Rod Serling, broadcast between 1959 and 1964 in the United States, returned regularly to the front of the stage.

Since its judgment, the original series has given birth to three reboots, in 1985 (the fifth dimension), 2002 (the thirteenth dimension, with Forest Whitaker in narrator of its 43 episodes) then 2019 (The Twilight Zone – The fourth dimension, supervised and presented by Jordan Peele, whose influence on his work), and a film whose different segments were Made by Steven Spielberg, George Miller, Joe Dante and John Landis, in 1983.

According to Jeff Sneiderthis feature film could soon no longer be the only cinematographic adaptation of the fourth dimension, because Ben Stiller would be attached to a new film project for six months. This is not necessarily very surprising on paper, because the actor and director has more than once proclaimed his love for the series of Rod Serling, which he quotes as one of the major influences of Severance, of which he is both producer and director.

In view of the source, however, it is necessary to be wary. Especially since Matt Reeves and Joseph Kosinski were also attached to a cinematographic adaptation, which means that Hollywood is still as fascinated by the fourth dimension, but that it is not easy to transpose his universe to the cinema. Still according to Jeff Sneider, the version of Ben Stiller, awaiting a screenwriter, would not be a film in Sketchs like that of 1983, but well composed of a single story, which makes the exercise a little more perilous, insofar as the episodes of the series lasted between 25 and 60 minutes.

The fantastic as a mirror of the fears of America

While waiting to see if the project is successful or not, knowing that the original series, of which Black Mirror can be seen as a modern version centered on our relationship to technology, is still as strong today is not so surprising as that. As early as 1959, Rod Serling used the fantastic and science fiction to express on a small screen the fears of America at the time, mainly linked to the nuclear threat and to the possible consequences of the Cold War.

Even more than in 2019, when Jordan Peele had taken it up (after summoning his mind in Get Out, US and his sketches with Keegan-Michael Key), the times that run are more than favorable for the fourth dimension to remain relevant, and the large screen can only accentuate the power of its mythical credits. It remains to be seen when the project will succeed, and with whom.